EA delays flagship shooter Battlefield Hardline until 2015

Battlefield: Hardline, the next iteration of Electronic Arts’ tentpole first-person shooter franchise, has been delayed until early 2015.

EA wants the the game’s development teams, DICE and Visceral Games, to spend extra time creating a more high-quality, innovative title, the company said in a statement. The game was originally set for an Oct 21, 2014 launch date on the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PC, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

“Back at E3, we launched a beta for Hardline — we wanted to not only show you the game, but to let you play it for yourselves,” said Karl Magnus Troedsson, DICE’s vice president in a recent blog post.

“Millions of you jumped in and had a great time. As a result, the Visceral Games team learned a lot from players about what they wanted in the game. We’ve been pouring over the data and feedback, and have already been putting a lot of it right into the game and sharing it directly with you.”

Troedsson explained he wants to improve both the game’s singleplayer and multiplayer as well as integrate, “ideas direct from the community that will evolve the cops and criminals fantasy into a truly unique Battlefield Multiplayer experience.”

Released last fall, Battlefield 4 had an incredibly shaky launch and was essentially unplayable at many points on all platforms for months after its release. Even today, the game still suffers from various issues leading some gamers to question why EA was preparing to release yet another Battlefield title before fixing Battlefield 4’s glaring flaws.

Hardline being delayed is likely a response to the widespread criticism the game’s beta received after launching during E3 in June.

DICE has developed all of the Battlefield games in the past, while Visceral Games is best known for its work on the Dead Space franchise. EA also announced today that another one of its upcoming titles, Dragon Age: Inquisition, is being pushed back to Nov. 18, 2014 in North America from its original Oct. 7 release date.